`Justice Done` . . .

April 23, 1985|By Michael Sneed, Cheryl Lavin and Kathy O`Malley.

INC. hears that a 64-year-old Chicago bookkeeper, who agreed to a $900,000 settlement for the loss of his right eye because of alleged negligence during a 1982 cataract operation, died two days after signing the settlement papers and the day before the trial on his lawsuit would have begun. Kelly Williams` case had been advanced on the Cook County Circuit Court calendar after he learned last year that he had terminal cancer, according to his attorneys, Arthur Engelland and Leonard Ring. ``At least he felt he had seen justice done before he died,`` Engelland said. Williams died March 30, and his widow received the settlement last week.

-- Look for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan to play a major role in Wednesday`s legislative hearing on the salmonella outbreak. INC. hears that Madigan wants to focus the inquiry on alleged shortcomings in the Illinois Department of Public Health and not on the Thompson administration`s in-fighting over personnel bungling.

-- The Good News: INC. hears that Cook County Board President George Dunne and Cook County Democratic chief Ed Vrdolyak have oh-so-quietly kissed and made up to present a united front for the 1987 mayoral election. The Bad News: Cook County Clerk Stanley Kusper has been told to take his sights off Dunne`s post and concentrate on seeking re-election.

-- Is it true that Gov. James Thompson is leaning toward freeing Gary Dotson? The Guv`s not saying. He apparently isn`t even talking to former Cook County State`s Atty. Bernard Carey, whose office prosecuted Dotson and put him in jail and who wants Dotson freed. ``Carey has called Thompson several times during the past week and doesn`t understand why Thompson doesn`t call back,`` an INC. source said. Maybe that`s `cause Carey isn`t state`s attorney anymore. Between the pages . . .

The papers haven`t been signed yet, but it looks like Rolling Stone will buy US magazine to turn it into a People clone--but without the heart.

``They`re going after the 20- to 30-year-old market that likes to watch TV, go to movies and buy books and records,`` one insider says. . . . While writing all his steamy novels, Rev. Andrew Greeley was also busily working on his memoirs. His autobiography is being auctioned off Tuesday in New York to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, Father Greeley stays out of the fray. He`s in England doing interviews with the BBC to promote ``Virgin and Martyr.``

Slumming . . .

That Gloria Steinem and her best man, publisher Mort Zuckerman, really know how to throw a party. They turned New York`s 42d Street Horn and Hardart Automat into a rhinestone disco Friday night for several hundred of their closest friends. Phil Donahue followed the invitation`s dress code, ``funky black tie,`` to a tee and showed up in a tuxedo jacket, shirt and tie and Cubs knickers, socks and sneakers. Topped with a Cubbie cap. Gloria was a vision in skin and bones, black and rhinestones. Also eating mashed potatoes and gravy and egg creams were Nora Ephron, Marlo Thomas, Bella Abzug, Clay Felker and Gail Sheehy. You know, that crowd.

INC.lings . . .

The Better Government Association is part of an investigation featured this week on ``The CBS Evening News`` with Dan Rather that looks into an FBI sting operation that went awry. The broadcast charges that the FBI knew one of its operatives committed a crime but that the bureau made no move to stop him or prosecute him. . . . Tuesday birthdays: Shirley Temple Black, 57; Sandra Dee, 43; Roy Orbison, 49; Lee Majors, 45; David Birney, 45; Valerie Bertinelli, 25; Catholic Youth Organization leader Rev. Raymond Pavis, 65. . . . To kick off National Organ Donor Week, Illinois Secretary of State Jim Edgar and several media personalities will be on hand to act as witnesses to anyone signing organ donor cards Friday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Daley Center Plaza. . . . Springfield pols are confusing enough, but when Art Gottschalk, head of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, told legislators last week of his group`s position on a bill, legislators were surprised to get calls from individual IMA members disavowing Gottschalk`s position on the bill.

The Near North Side mansion of Peter Schivarelli, 43d Ward superintendent, has caught the eye of commercial photographers and filmmakers. His digs have been the scene for photographing Playboy centerfolds, including the August pictorial, and also commercial work by director Joe Sedelmaier, who made ``Where`s the Beef`` a household question.